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FCD training report: August 18

The second day of preparation leading into Saturday’s match
against Chivas USA began with the normal stretch and warm-up session. The first
drill of the overcast morning was an all-inclusive exercise focused on
defending against diagonal through balls. FC Dallas Head Coach Schellas Hyndman
placed two additional goals on both end lines, forcing the players to defend
from all angles.

Playing well for the orange squad, Peri Marosevic finished
the two chances he had. The first, he chipped over the head of Dario Sala. The
second, Marosevic turned and one-timed an entry pass from Jackson through the
secondary goal near the right corner flag.

Going the other direction, Ruben Luna won a chance deep in
the orange team’s defensive third before calmly side-stepping a defender and
finishing low to the far post.

“Ruben is a great natural finisher,” Hyndman said after practice.

In nearly the same position on the pitch, trailist Flavio
Dias found himself on a breakaway a few moments later. Fresh off of
stonewalling Danny Allsopp on a breakaway in Saturday’s 3-1 win over D.C.
United, Kevin Hartman expertly cut down Dias’ angle. The Brazilian attempted to
chip the FC Dallas goalkeeper, but Hartman managed to parry the ball away.

9:25

The squad split into two groups. Luna, Dias, Marosevic, Jeff
Cunningham, Milton Rodriguez and Eric Avila worked with coach Hyndman on
finishing. The second group completed a three-on-two breakaway drill run by FC
Dallas Assistant Coach John Ellinger.

10:00

Coach Hyndman closed practice with a three-goal drill which
utilized every member of the squad. The three teams looked to defend their own
goal while also attempting to score in either of the other two teams’ goals.
The middle of the circular training area became a high traffic zone where all
the teams converged.

“The team has been under a lot of pressure lately and I wanted to get their
minds off of it,” Hyndman said of the drill. “The drill created a relaxed
environment.”

The highlight of the drill was when red-hot David Ferreira
(2G, 2A in last 2GP) found the upper 90 of the far post with a laser of a shot.
For the second day in a row, Ferreira broke into a short dance following the
nicest goal of the training session.